DOCSLIB.ORG

No Easy Road to Truth: the TRC in the Eastern Cape Paper For

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
No Easy Road to Truth: the TRC in the Eastern Cape Paper For CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by Wits Institutional Repository on DSPACE No Easy Road to Truth: The TRC in the Eastern Cape Paper for presentation at the Wits History Workshop Conference, June 1999 Janet Cherry Department of Sociology/Development Studies University of Port Elizabeth Note: This paper contains 'work in progress'; I would welcome any additional information on the cases contained here, which either elaborates on particular events or 'sets the record straight'. Who was 'the first urban terrorist' in Port Elizabeth? This story - which is but a small part of a much greater history - begins with the violent death of a man in an explosion in a street in downtown Port Elizabeth. The explosion took place on 8 March 1978, not six months after Steve Biko died a miserable and lonely death after being assaulted by the Port Elizabeth security police. The man was carrying a powerful parcel bomb to an unknown destination when it exploded, presumably prematurely, as he was walking down a quiet street. It exploded at 4.20 pm, shattering hundreds of windows and damaging two cars. One passer-by was slightly injured by glass. The person carrying the bomb was thrown up by the force of the explosion, and his hands were blown off. It was reported that the blast had flung pieces of his body over a radius of about fifty metres. Newspapers at the time carried disturbing descriptions of his mutilated body, which was covered with paper by a passer-by before being removed by an ambulance. The security police came to the scene to investigate. On 10 March it was reported in the local press that the incident was definitely an 'act of urban terrorism' but that the identity of the man was unknown. He is believed to be Makwezi MacDonald Mtulu, but at the time he was dubbed by the press as "the man who turned out to be Port Elizabeth's first urban terrorist". (EP Herald 9 March 1978). South African Police Brigadier Johan Coetzee said that Mtulu, who was a 'close colleague and friend' of Steve Biko, had gone into exile in 1972, and that the bomb blasts in PE and elsewhere were 'the work of the ANC. (IDAF Focus 18, September 1978) There is no such person in the list of MK members who died in combat or inside South Africa, compiled by the ANC for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and his family did not, to my knowledge, approach the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The day after his death, another bomb exploded at the BAAB office in New Brighton, Port Elizabeth, killing one woman and injuring three others. This bomb is listed in the ANC submission to the TRC as an MK operation, with the target listed as being a 'government building'. It can be assumed that both bombs were the work of one MK member or unit, the actions of which played a significant role in determining the vicious cycle of conflict in the Eastern Cape over the following decade. Existing analyses of the South African conflict tend to focus on the 'peaks' of resistance, seen as Soweto 1976 and the situation from late 1984 to mid-1986 which is characterised as 'near-insurrectionary' by some writers. This paper explores the 'early phase' of conflict in the PE/Uitenhage area of the Eastern Cape, from 1978 to 1983, and shows how the conflict of the mid-1980s was shaped by the perceptions of both the security police and their opponents. It explores how the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has given us the testimony of both victims and perpetrators, in the form of both facts and perceptions, which enriches our understanding of this history. Why focus on the Eastern Cape? This paper does not argue that the regional nuances of one part of South Africa demand a fundamentally different interpretation of events to a broader, national version of history. Rather, the Eastern Cape offers good case studies of certain dynamics in the history of the South African conflict. Firstly, there is a clear polarisation between the main protagonists, the security police as representatives of the white minority regime, and the ANC as representative of the black majority. Although the reality is more nuanced - as will be seen below - the public perception of the situation is still captured, reflected and played out in the TRC's amnesty hearings in Port Elizabeth: the white security policemen sat scowling on the stage; the black masses howled their hostility from the floor. The conflict was not mediated by a 'third party' such as the IFP in KwaZulu/Natal and on the Rand; or at least, not to such an extent. There certainly were black moderates and those perceived as collaborators, and attempts by the security forces to create their own allies within the black community - sometimes with devastating effect - but they were always a minority. Secondly, there is a perception that the Eastern Cape is the 'heartland of the ANC and thus also the 'heartland of resistance'; figures are always quoted for the high numbers of detainees, the great extent of resistance in the mid- 1980s, and the large number of liberation movement leaders coming from the region. In some respects uncomplicated, then, the Eastern Cape is a good region for trying to create a consensual history - or at least, to see whether the TRC has succeeded in creating a consensus on the history of a particular period. The short period dealt with here is often characterised in the literature as a hiatus between upsurges of mass resistance, when solid organisational work was taking place, mass organisations were being formed, the profile of the ANC was being raised, underground structures were slowly being built, and MK was engaging in armed propaganda through its spectacular 'hit and run' operations carried out by the Special Operations Unit. The security police perspective, as relayed to the TRC amnesty hearings in Port Elizabeth, was somewhat different: they saw this period as providing a continuation and an escalation of revolutionary activity. MK was engaging in other actions beside the 'special operations' such as the attack on SASOL II. Firstly, the policy of assassination of individuals who had been labelled as 'traitors' began to be carried out; Leonard Nkosi was killed in September 1977, and Steve Mtshali in January 1978. Secondly, the period is marked by the bombing of the Cariton Centre in Johannesburg on 25 November 1977, and the bombing of the SAAF HQ building in Church Street, Pretoria on 20 May 1983 - both of which involved civilian casualties. Bombs in shopping centres in East London and Port Elizabeth were also laid on 6 and 8 August 1981 - indicating to the security police that the ANC's strategy was one of urban terrorism. While the ANC argued to the TRC that the Church Street bomb was a 'military target', it placed the other three 'shopping centre bombs' in another list, headed 'armed actions for which target category and/or responsibility is uncertain'. In the case of the Cariton Centre bomb, it is noted by Shubin that this was acknowledged by the ANC to have 'violated its rules', and it was understood that the MK members responsible had decided to 'do something spectacular1 in order to gain publicity. This was because attacks on railway lines had been deliberately 'covered up' by the police. (Shubin 177). It is quite possible that the same strategy was adopted by the MK unit(s) operating in PE and EL in 1981; the railway line sabotage was deliberately kept out of the media by the police, and thus the frustrated MK units attempted to attract publicity by putting bombs in the shopping centres. It is also rumoured that the shopping centre bombs were the acts of young militant cadres who 'broke ranks' when angered by the assassination of Joe Gqabi on 31 July 1981 in Zimbabwe. The significance of the New Brighton bomb is that it signals the beginning of the 'armed struggle' in the Port Elizabeth area. Up until 1975, MK had not engaged in armed actions in South Africa since its initial sabotage campaign of the early 1960s. The resumption of armed struggle began in earnest when the 'post-76 generation' of recruits began to filter back during 1977. This resumption came, in PE, at the tail end of six months of extreme violence and turmoil, which began in June 1977 with the commemoration of the 1976 uprising, and was exacerbated by the death in police custody of Steve Biko in September. From June 1977 to March 1978, the townships of PE and Uitenhage - as well as other townships in the Eastern Cape, such as those of Cradock and Graaff-Reinet - were enveloped in largely spontaneous protests and acts of arson by angry youth. Police used extreme measures to contain this violent outbreak, the extent and extremity of which has not been given much attention; many were shot dead, and (at least) four people died in police custody. The last of these was Lungile Tabalaza, who 'leapt out of a window* of Sanlam building while in the hands of the 'special anti-riot unit'. The violence in the townships of PE and Uitenhage in the 1976-78 period was largely spontaneous, with the youth inspired, as elsewhere in South Africa, by the teachings of the Black Consciousness Movement. Meanwhile, the ANC had deployed Chris Hani to Lesotho, to establish underground networks inside South Africa. When these networks began to engage in sabotage actions, it appeared to the police as a continuation of the violent upsurge of 1976-7.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Original Articles
    ORIGINAL ARTICLES of the Berlin Centre for the Treatment of Torture Victims, called SPECIAl ARTICLE on the South African medical community to 'take advantage of a unique historical opportunity'. He referred to the sobering example of health professionals in Germany who for 30 years THE DIFFICULT ROAD TO TRUTH denied their culpability in medical crimes during the Nazi regime. Asserting that this resulted in 'the ideology of 'azi AND RECONCILIATION - THE medicine, the contempt for the "inferior" ... in the minds of HEALTH SECTOR TAKES ITS FIRST doctors', Or Pross appealed to South African doctors to 'give a different example'.' STEPS The notion that the past can be brushed aside, or at worst buried,4 has drm'\'n criticism on a number of levels.;» Firstly, the Jeanelle de Gruchy, leslie london, laurel Baldwin-Ragaven, suggestion that the past is '"vater under the bridge' must surely Simon lewin, and the Health and Human Rights Project be seen as an exercise in denial, which attempts to exculpate Support Group both institutional and individual responsibility for past human rights abuses. This self-serving form of selective amnesia, The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Hearings on reflected in public debate concerning the TRC, calls on South the Health Sector held on 17 and 18 June 1997 heralded the Africans to put the past behind them, and seeks to move beginning of the health sector's 'painful ethical voyage from forward without reflecting on the past. However, it is only by wrong to right'.' A milestone in the history of the heal th uncovering, documenting and understanding the past that we professions in South Africa, this was the first time that those can begin to understand it and its myriad effects, initiate responsible for the health of our nation publicly reflected on healing, and 'ensure that nothing of the sort ever happens again'.- the ways in which they were complicit in human rights violations during the apartheid era.
    [Show full text]
  • American Medical Association Journal of Ethics October 2015, Volume 17, Number 10: 966-972
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Stellenbosch University SUNScholar Repository American Medical Association Journal of Ethics October 2015, Volume 17, Number 10: 966-972 HISTORY OF MEDICINE Dual Loyalties, Human Rights Violations, and Physician Complicity in Apartheid South Africa Keymanthri Moodley, MBChB, MFam Med, DPhil, and Sharon Kling, MBChB, MMed, MPhil Introduction From 1948 to 1994, South Africans were subjected to a period of sociopolitical segregation and discrimination based on race, a social experiment known as apartheid. South African history was tainted by a minority Afrikaner Nationalist Party that sought to plunder, exploit, divide, and rule. When that party took power in 1948, human rights abuses permeated all levels of society, including the medical profession, which was to a large extent complicit in various human rights violations. These discriminatory practices had a negative impact on the medical education of black students, the care of black patients in private as well as public institutions, and the careers of black medical doctors. Medical student training programs at most universities ensured that white patients were not examined by black medical students either in life or after death. Postmortems on white patients were conducted in the presence of white students only; students of color were permitted to view the organs only after they were removed from the corpse [1]. Public and private hospitals reflected the mores of apartheid South Africa. Ambulance services were segregated, and even in emergencies a designated “white ambulance” could not treat and transport critically ill or injured patients of color [2].
    [Show full text]
  • FHS Centenary Commemoration Report.Pdf
    ‘Looking on into the future …. I see before me as in a vision a great teaching University arising under the shadow of old Table Mountain, and a part of that University is composed of a well-equipped medical Faculty ….’ Barnard Fuller, March 1907 Drafted by Dr Yolande Harley, Ms Linda Rhoda and Ms Esmari Taylor on behalf of the Centenary Management Team Contents 1. PREFACE .................................................................................................................................................................. 1 2. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................... 2 3. CENTENARY KEY MESSAGING, THEMES AND GOALS .......................................................................... 3 3.1 Key messaging for the centenary ........................................................................................................... 3 3.2 Centenary celebration themes ................................................................................................................ 4 3.3 Goals of the centenary celebrations...................................................................................................... 4 4. COMMUNICATIONS AND MARKETING ...................................................................................................... 5 4.1 Branding – logo and colour scheme ..................................................................................................... 5 4.2 Pamphlet.........................................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Arguing Biko: Evidence of the Body in the Politics of History, 1977 to the Present
    Arguing Biko: Evidence of the Body in the Politics of History, 1977 to the Present A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA BY Jesse Walter Bucher IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Advisors Allen F. Isaacman and Tamara Giles-Vernick September, 2010 © Jesse Walter Bucher 2010 i Acknowledgements Funding support for my dissertation research in South Africa was provided in 2007- 2008 by the Office of International Programs Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship at the University of Minnesota. Funding for a research trip to the Eastern Cape in June of 2008 was provided by the Center for Humanities Research and the History Department at the University of the Western Cape where I was a research fellow. Joint financial support from the MacArthur program at the University of Minnesota and the Donald Burch Fellowship in History through the University of Minnesota Department of History in 2008-2009, and a Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship from the University of Minnesota Graduate School in 2009-2010 allowed me to concentrate exclusively on completing the dissertation writing. I thank all of these institutions for their generous support. I first studied African history as an undergraduate at The College of New Jersey where I had the great fortune of working with Derek Peterson. Between my junior and senior years of college, Derek helped me formulate my first research projects in African history while we both spent time sorting through files at the Public Records Office in London. Derek patiently showed me how to read documents, how to join together evidence with ideas, and how to think through the historiographical questions that shaped the discipline.
    [Show full text]
  • UCT Medical School Has Attempted to Explore
    Chapter 2: The historical context In South Africa race and gender discrimination have intersected. A Medical Association of South Africa [MASA] submission to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission [TRC] in 1997 examining its past history, described the organisation as 'white, male, elitist, educated, professional'.1 These words, while none of them derogatory in themselves, in combination sum up some of the issues which this historical background to discrimination at UCT Medical School has attempted to explore. What is at issue is not only the nature of the medical profession but also the kind of medicine inculcated at the Medical School. This study has attempted to go beyond a simple catalogue of events. The first section makes the point that segregation was entrenched in South Africa, even in the relatively liberal Cape, well before Union. The medical profession at the Cape played its part in this process, calling for segregation on sanitary grounds. The second part of this study explores the intellectual context of racism in medicine, noting the role of anatomy in contributing to notions of scientific racism. It argues that, up to the Second World War, doctors were functioning in a world in which racial differences were taken for granted and such views were part of their mindset, rarely examined and questioned. The cohesiveness of the medical profession in itself tended to reinforce such perspectives. The following two sections, dealing with the periods before and after the Second World War, provide a brief political and social background. In the section dealing with the interwar period, the ongoing question of black admissions into the Medical School is the main focus.
    [Show full text]
  • The Hyperventilation Syndrome – Dr. Frances Ames
    The Hyperventilation Syndrome – Dr. Frances Ames Dr. Frances Ames was a remarkable woman from South Africa. She was a neurologist, psychiatrist, and human rights activist. During her infancy in the early 1920s, her mother was abandoned by her husband and left penniless with three daughters. Despite this hardship, she achieved academic success and qualified as a doctor in 1942. In 1964, she was the first woman to be awarded an MD degree, medical doctor, at Cape Town University. Ames was a proponent of the therapeutic benefits of cannabis, as she observed first-hand how cannabis relieved spasm in MS patients and helped paraplegics in the spinal injuries ward of her hospital. Her work is cited extensively throughout the cannabis literature. When Nelson Mandela honored Dr. Ames with South Africa’s highest civilian award, the Star of Africa, in 1999, he did so not for her achievements in the medical field but for the role she played in bringing to book the doctors who had acquiesced in the torture and death of the black activist Steve Biko. In December 1952 she submitted the comprehensive thesis The Hyperventilation Syndrome, for the degree of Doctor of Medicine to the University of Cape Town. INDEX – THE HYPERVENTILATION SYNDROME • Introduction • Historical Review • Clinical Symptoms and Signs • Diagnosis and Differential Diagnosis • Treatment • Experimental Section • Discussion • Summary and Conclusions • Appendix of Case Histories • References • Acknowledgments CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION The hyperventilation syndrome is the name given to a distinctive group of symptoms and signs which are caused by an increase in the depth and rate of breathing. This abnormal breathing is nearly always the result of emotional stress.
    [Show full text]
  • Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa Report
    VOLUME FOUR Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa Report PURL: https://www.legal-tools.org/doc/866988/ The report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was presented to President Nelson Mandela on 29 October 1998. Archbishop Desmond Tutu Ms Hlengiwe Mkhize Chairperson Dr Alex Boraine Mr Dumisa Ntsebeza Vice-Chairperson Ms Mary Burton Dr Wendy Orr Revd Bongani Finca Adv Denzil Potgieter Ms Sisi Khampepe Dr Fazel Randera Mr Richard Lyster Ms Yasmin Sooka Mr Wynand Malan* Ms Glenda Wildschut Revd Khoza Mgogo * Subject to minority position. See volume 5. Chief Executive Officer: Dr Biki Minyuku PURL: https://www.legal-tools.org/doc/866988/ I CONTENTS Chapter 1 Chapter 7 Foreword and Context of INSTITUTIONAL HEARING: Institutional and Special Hearings..... 1 Prisons ................................................................... 199 Appendix: Submissions to the Commission.. 5 Appendix: Deaths in Detention ........................ 220 Chapter 2 Chapter 8 INSTITUTIONAL HEARING: SPECIAL HEARING: Business and Labour ................................... 18 Compulsory Military Service .................. 222 Appendix 1: Structure of the SADF ............... 247 Chapter 3 Appendix 2: Personnel......................................... 248 INSTITUTIONAL HEARING: Appendix 3: Requirements ................................ 248 The Faith Community .................................. 59 Appendix 4: Legislation ...................................... 249 Chapter 4 Chapter 9 INSTITUTIONAL HEARING: SPECIAL HEARING: The Legal Community ................................
    [Show full text]
  • Joseph Lesetja Sexwale [JB02462/01GTSOW] and Two
    Joseph Lesetja Sexwale [JB02462/01GTSOW] and two others were exhumed and reburied; Khalipha, who was the only one from the Eastern Cape, was reburied in Port Elizabeth. The man arrested near Elliot was Mr Mveleli ‘Junior’ Saliwa [EC2691/97UTA], who had been driving the group. He was subsequently put on trial in Umtata. 135 The first Transkei terrorism trial was held in 1981. Among the accused were Mr Mzwandile ‘Kaiser’ Mbete [EC972/96ELN], Mr James Kati [EC0309/96WTK], Mr Mkhangeli Matomela [EC0121/96KWT], Mr Alfred Marwanqana [EC0670/96PLZ] and Mr Mveleli ‘Junior’ Saliwa [EC2691/97UTA], who had been captured during the August 1981 shoot-outs. Some were members of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) youth league. Matomela and Marwanqana were finally acquitted in 1982; all the other co-accused were convicted and given sentences ranging from five to thirteen years’ imprisonment. Most of them had been in detention for more than a year before being charged, and most spoke of torture by police. Marwanqana, who had been jailed on Robben Island for ANC activities in the 1960s, fled into exile soon afterwards. He and two of his children, Thandiswa and Mzukisi, were killed in the SADF raid on Lesotho in December 1982. 136 In 1982, COSAS activist Siphiwe Mthimkulu [EC0034/96PLZ] and his friend Tobekile ‘Topsy’ Madaka [EC0766/96PLZ] were abducted from Port Elizabeth and killed by security police. In his amnesty application, Port Elizabeth police officer Mr Gideon Nieuwoudt referred to attacks on police officers at the time and claimed that the two activists were linked to these attacks and to a spate of bombings.
    [Show full text]
  • Prison Health Care in South Africa: a Study Of
    PRISON HEAL TH CARE IN SOUTH AFRICA: a study of prison conditions, health care and medical accountability for the care of prisoners University of Cape Town Judith van Heerden, MBChB July 1996 The copyright of this thesis vests in the author. No quotation from it or information derived from it is to be published without full acknowledgement of the source. The thesis is to be used for private study or non- commercial research purposes only. Published by the University of Cape Town (UCT) in terms of the non-exclusive license granted to UCT by the author. University of Cape Town DECLARATION I. Judith Antoinettevan Heerden, hereby declare that the work on which this thesis is based is original (except where acknowledgements indicate otherwise) and that neither the whole work nor any part of it has been, is being, or is to be submitted for another degreein this or any other university. I empower the University to reproduce forthe purpose of research either the whole or any portion of the contents in any manner whatsoever. Signature Removed _/cl,.!�./Cf/1, a (Date) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This survey is dedicated to all those ex-detainees who were willing to share their often painful experiences with me at considerable risk to their personal safety. I would like to express appreciation for the ongoing encouragement and support received from Govan Mbeki, Rev Mxolisi Xundu, Patha Madalana, Vuyiswa Matshaya, Manityi Blaauw, Ndeleka Qangule, Kobus Pienaar, Judy Chalmers and Bettie Grant, and further afield the Albany Council of Churches and the Black Sash, in particular Sox Leleki, Hlemi Mangcangaza, Ruth Plaatjie and Priscilla Hall from the Eastern Cape.
    [Show full text]
  • Happy 100Th Birthday, FHS!
    facultynews AUGUST 2012 | FACULTY OF HEALTH SCIENCES | UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN page 12 page 7 page 9 Happy 100th birthday, FHS! picture n 6th June 2012, exactly 100 O years to the day since the opening of the Anatomical and Physiological Laboratories on what is now Hiddingh campus, the Faculty of Health Sciences celebrated its centenary in style with three interlinked events. The celebrations kicked off on the evening of 5th June with a tour of the original medical school buildings, led by Professor Howard Phillips of the Department of Historical Studies and Emeritus Professor David Dent of the Department of Surgery. Guests then packed the old lecture theatre to be entertained by an informative audio-visual presentation by Professor Phillips, on the birth and early history of the first medical school. On Wednesday, 6th June, the official commemorative function took place in full academic address in the New Learning Centre. Attended by alumni, staff, student leaders, community members, members of UCT senior leadership and dignitaries-which included the Premier of the Western Cape, Helen Zille and the Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Gwen Ramokgopa; the Deputy Mayor of Cape Town, Alderman Neilson; UCT Chair of Council Archbishop Njongonkulu balloon-festooned plaza to celebrate in Ndungane; UCT Vice-Chancellor, Dr Max true festive style. Following a HIGHLIGHTS INSIDE Price and former Professor of Medicine refreshments, they were treated to an and UCT Vice-Chancellor, Emeritus afternoon of entertainment by none other Centenary events in pictures Professor Stuart Saunders. At the than fellow staff and students performing morning event the South African Post items from our recent centenary concert, Historic occasion: Multilateral Office honoured the occasion with the a delightful sing-along with Professor launch of a beautiful postage stamp, of Maurice Kibel, as well as the ever popular Agreement signed which 50 000 copies are being sold at Post Afro-pop group Freshlyground, which got Offices country-wide.
    [Show full text]
  • Affidavit Frances Ames.Pdf
    IN THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT OF SOUTH AFRICA Case No.: CCT 11 and 12/95 In the matter between: THE STATE and BHULWANA And in the matter between: THE STATE and GWADISO AFFIDAVIT I, the undersigned, FRANCES RIX AMES, do hereby make oath and say that: 1. I am a former Associate Professor of Neurology. 2. All of the facts deposed to in this affidavit are, unless indicated to the contrary, within my personal knowledge and belief. 44 V Page 2 3. My professional qualifications and experience are the following: 3.1 I hold the qualifications of MB.CHB, M.D., M.Med, and DPM. 3.2 I have been registered as a neurologist since 1955 and was head*of the Neurology Department at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Cape Town and at Groote Schuur Hospital from 1976 to 1985. 3.3 I am a qualified, but not a registered, psychiatrist. 3.4 I was awarded an Associate Professorship in the 1970's by the University of Cape Town for research work. Amongst my research publications are those set out in annexure "A" hereto. 3.5 I am presently in semi-retirement, but continue to hold consulting and teaching appointments at various hospitals in the Western Cape including the Psychiatry Department at Groote Schuur Hospital, and at the EEG and Out-Patients Clinic at Valkenberg Hospital. 3.6 Although my qualification, professorial appointment and research have been in the general discipline of Neurology, a specific area in which I have practised extensively and in which I have conducted research is the neurological and general medical effects which marijuana has on the human body and on the brain.
    [Show full text]
  • Print This Article
    CORRESPONDENCE National Health Insurance – what the National Department of Health for leadership, for commitment and people want, need and deserve! for initiating this policy milestone. To the Editor: At the 2008 SAMA conference ‘The Future of Health Care in South Africa – How Will It Be Provided and Funded?’, I Shan Naidoo addressed the history of South Africa’s health policy, in particular President of the College of Public Health Medicine and the views of the mass movements on health and access to health Head of the Department of Community Health Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital and care, traced back to the Freedom Charter (1955). Their continued School of Public Health appeal for a state-run preventive health scheme, free medical and Faculty of Health Sciences hospital care (with special attention to mothers and children) and University of the Witwatersrand better access to health care is highlighted in frameworks such as the Johannesburg [email protected] Reconstruction and Development Plan (1994), the ANC’s National Health Plan for South Africa of 1994 (developed with the World Health Organization and UNICEF), the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (1996), the White Paper for the Transformation of Time to decriminalise drugs? the Health System of South Africa (1997) and the National Health To the Editor: The editorial on the decriminalisation of drugs,1 and Act (2004). the debate that it sparked off,2 refer. The potential medically beneficial National Health Insurance (NHI) was an aspiration of the people effects of cannabis were alluded to in the editorial. My personal dealings as a human right; its development was therefore inevitable.
    [Show full text]